NZ Shipping Federation: Wellington fails to recognise importance of coastal shipping
The New Zealand government has little appreciation of the importance of coastal shipping to the local economy, Annabel Young, executive director of the NZ Shipping Federation argues in today’s Maritime CEO profile.
The federation has been around since 1907 and represents coastal shipping and today has nine members.
Young’s background includes stints as a lawyer and an accountant as well as two terms as a member of parliament.
When she left parliament she wrote The Good Lobbyist’s Guide, which is still the only book about lobbying in New Zealand.
“We feel that the government has no interest in coastal shipping and does not put enough effort into any maritime policy,” Young tells Maritime CEO.
“New Zealand is a maritime nation and maritime transport is vital to our economy,” she continues.
A key project at the federation at the moment is promoting the need for a larger drydock located in New Zealand.
Annabel Young is certainly right. A glance at a map shows anyone that New Zealand is a nation that must always depend on sea transport. I suspect that one reason why New Zealand’s policy makers have not paid much attention to coastal shipping services (I am avoiding the term “cabotage” here!) is that New Zealand has always been extremely well served by deepsea ships calling at several ports in the country.
It might be unwise to assume that this will always be the case. The move to ever larger ships suggests that it may not be.